My love/hate relationship with Personal Finance Books

I recently read a personal finance book called "Shoo, Jimmy Choo!: The Modern Girl's Guide to Spending Less and Saving More".

Yeah I know, I should have known by the title to steer clear (Shoo, Jimmy Choo? please. Not in this lifetime.) To be honest it was the pink cover is really what drew me in. While I think the author is super cute, and had some good advice to give (but not very novel in the world of PF) I was turned off by some of her remarks. Like when she suggested giving up eating as a way of both losing weight and saving money.
Now, I'm not someone that gets offended easily, but really? I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people that would be.

Which brings me to the problem I have with most personal finance books. They are either insulting or repetitive.

Insulting in that most authors go into writing their books assuming their audience has no knowledge or common sense. Which was totally fine the first time I picked a PF book up because I didn't have the knowlege or possibly the common sense. But reading one should not amount to reading them all.

However, What I did like about this book is that it went into (ok scratched the surface of) the psychology behind spending, as in the drivers that compel you to spend. That is the kind of stuff that is the most ineteresting. Yet, her advice to combating those forces? In a nutshell, put a post-it note on your credit card with " do you really need this?" written on it. I don't know about you, but I would not feel guilty enough to put the card back in the wallet instead of buying what my heart desired that moment.

I guess my biggest problem is that the author never suggested that a healthy budget and a love of shoes (handbags, Seven jeans, insert your weakness here) can co-exist. Which it can. It just requires being a litle more savvy then giving up food.

Anyways, if you are looking for a Personal Finance book that is neither insulting or repetitive I recomment "You're So Money: Live Rich, Even When You're Not." By Farnoosh Torabi
Its by far the best personal finance book for us young, possibly fashion obsessed, readers.